Tag: Inquiry
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Dickens, A CEO, & Fear Of The Poorhouse
Charles Dickens, perhaps the most famous novelist in the Victorian era, made a great living during his lifetime and yet, all his life, was deeply fearful of returning to the workhouse. When he was 12, his father was put in debtors’ prison while he, separately, worked at a nearby factory, Warren’s Blacking Warehouse. It is…
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Vivarta Vada And Self-inquiry
You may have heard this line from Chandogya Upanishad: “May I be many, may I grow forth.” Hearing it, you may have fallen to wondering: “How did the many actually come from the One?” What if manifestation never really happened? In this connection, let’s consider just one doctrine: vivarta vada. This teaching draws upon the…
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Going Beyond The Student-Spiritual Teacher Framing
We need a new, more deft understanding of “student” and “spiritual teacher.” In fact, ultimately both, rightly says The Avadhuta Gita, have to go. But first the promised understanding. The student in life–be he a spiritual practitioner, an entrepreneur, or (really) anybody–tells a story in which he, the protagonist, is struggling to follow the path.…
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A Positive Thought Is Closer To Truth Than A Negative Thought
Listen very carefully to your thoughts and emotions. A negative thought or negative emotion, provided that you believe it to be true, is an energy sieve. From the point of view of energy, you should be able to confirm that such a thought or emotion is, in some metaphysical sense, false. Why so? A positive…
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Telling Apart
Paul Deussen understands very well that the first teaching of Advaita Vedanta is viveka–discrimination, separation, or telling apart. What is to be told apart from what? Deussen writes, “This aim [in essence, moksha] the Vedanta reaches by separating from the soul (the Self, atman) everything that is not soul, not Self, and is only transferred…
Andrew Taggart, Ph.D. 